


Reality Collapse

by KRissCHu



Series: Reality Collapse [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Anime inspired, Fantasy, Magic, Science, Science Fiction, mature themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27180352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KRissCHu/pseuds/KRissCHu
Summary: Our story follows the life of an unlikely heroine - Aurora.A girl with a grim past, struggling to find peace in her life and tame her immense magical abilities.Through much effort and some luck, she has managed to achieve a simple, but happy life in Carosi, one of the College Cities that dot the planet Amargul. Despite the world's vicious war against the seemingly unending forces of the Cael Imperium, everything appears calm and peaceful in Carosi.However, on the faithful day of an important examination, Aurora's life, as well as that of her friends, took an unfortunate turn to the uncertain, forcing them into the unfavorable position of being wanted by the law. In the course of their escape, they come across a troubling stranger that is bound to the young sorceress.Reluctantly following his advice, she and her friends elect to aid the stranger in severing the bond that keeps him and Aurora down, under the promise that he will grant them the wish of restoring everything as it should be.Thus, they go forth, not knowing how much truly hangs on the result of this adventure.
Series: Reality Collapse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983982
Kudos: 2





	1. Shaking Creation

* * *

##  **Chapter 1: Shaking Creation** ****

* * *

"No!" A scream echoed through the night.

A small girl stood alone in a thick veil of darkness, tears streaming down her sides like rivers.

"Aurora! Run!-" A man's voice called out to her as a large, faceless, black figure plunged a sword through his head.

"What? Oh look." A grim chuckle followed. "They had a kid here." The figure snickered as two more walked next to it.

"Papa..." The girl whispered in fear.

"Hah, look at her. I think she's about to stink up the place." One of the newly arrived figures mockingly said, resulting in the others laughing.

The sound of her heartbeat thundered in the girl’s ears as she helplessly looked at them for several moments, until a wailing cry escaped her small lungs and she ran at one of the figures, latching onto its leg and biting it.

"OW! You filthy little bitch!" The figure barked out as it kicked the girl off, promptly sending her flat on her back. Afterwards, the figure raised its sword, swinging down and cutting off the girl's right arm at the base of the shoulder.

* * *

Gasping, an orange haired woman awoke and sat up in her bed, quick heavy breaths escaping her as sweat dripped down her temples. After several intense heart throbs she took a look around, only to see that she was alone in her bed. The stone walls were faintly lightened by the moon's glow entering from the single window of the room, positioned next to the bed.

A tired sigh escaped the woman as she laid back down. A moment later she slowly raised her right arm in the air and looked at it as darkness began to overpower her vision and caused her to drift back to sleep.

* * *

"Aurora!" Someone called out from outside, causing the orange haired woman to groggily open her eyes. 

Slowly she got up, letting out a yawn, and stood up to look out of the window. Poking her head out she saw a man and a woman outside of her two story house.

"Why do you guys always come over so early, Neymara?" Aurora called out to the woman.

The addressant of her question was a tall and slender elvish woman, dressed in a lightly plated leather suit. Her skin was milky white, matching her ice blue eyes and pale blond hair, tied in a puffed up tail.

"Early?" Neymara asked back with a slight note of shock in her tone. "You humans are unbelievable...It's nearly an hour before noon. It took me half an hour to wake him up." She then gestured at the man next to her, and noticed that he was asleep. "Oh for the love of Magmius..." She groaned and slapped him across his face.

"Ow! Uh! Wha? I'm awake! I'm awake!" He let out, stabilizing his stance.

He was close to Neymara's height, but slightly shorter, with light brown hair and matching eyes, and he wore the same outfit as the elveness, only matched for his build.

"Brim, aren't the commanders at your corps making the recruits get up early?" Aurora asked.

"Today we have a day off, and this tramp just bursts into the barracks and tried to drag me out of a fine dream." Brim casually answered, letting out a yawn.

"What?! Who are you calling a tramp, you brick-headed bastard?!" Neymara snapped at him.

"The same tramp this brick-headed bastard is about to beat into the ground for ruining his morning!" He snapped back at her, the two butting heads. It almost looked as if small lightnings flickering between their eyes.

"Hey! Guys! Break it up!" Aurora shouted from the window, getting both of her friends' attention. "If you're gonna do something, do it further away. My landlord has had it with your extensive, not to mention expensive to fix, fights around his property. I'll come down in a few moments, just try not to kill each other, okay?"

The pair looked back at each other, then turned their backs, crossing their arms and "humphed".

"Oh brother..." The fiery haired maiden groaned out as she went back inside.

With a wave of her hand a blue circle formed in the air above her, releasing a torrent of water which rained over her. After wiping her eyes she brought her hands forward and snapped her fingers, and in a flash of light a few mint leaves appeared in one of her hands and a wooden mug in the other. She stuffed the leaves in her mouth and made another swirl with her free hand, a smaller circle than before opening above the mug, filling it with water.

As she chewed on the leaves she snapped her fingers, holding up her index finger, a small flame appearing over it. Moving her finger under the mug for a while she heated the water, then drank it all, slushing it together with the chewed up mint inside her mouth, before spitting everything out in a black circle which formed next to her.

Then she threw the mug behind her back, which vanished in a small explosion of light, right before hitting the ground. Next she crossed her arms in front of her chest, swirling her body while raising them up, causing a purple circle to appear above her and slowly slide down. As she passed through it, Aurora was dried, her hair getting curled up and a beige leather outfit made up of a corset and vest covering her midsection, but leaving her arms bared up to the shoulders, leggings which left the sides of her upper legs uncovered and high heel boots appeared on her.

* * *

##  **_Carosi - College City_ **

###  _Smith's Brother Inn_

"I'm saying that you have to take things more seriously! Bandits, monsters and techs don't get days off. As part of the city's guard we need to always be prepared to act!" Neymara insisted, slamming her mug onto the thick wooden table.

"EH!" Brim let out as to note that her statement was incorrect. "We are not part of the city's guard, yet. Besides, the city is well warded with spells and military patrols, so unless a child of Magmius decides to attack we are fine when it comes to monsters. Adding to that, the people here are pretty tough, our generous host being a fine example, and can deal with petty bandits easily. The only thing that can be a threat to a College City are the techs, but the Rogue Rift Split is leagues away from Carosi. They'd have to breach through almost the entire army of Amargul before they can reach us. So we are basically in the clear, right up until the day we die." He explained, pausing briefly, before correcting himself. "Well, at least until the day me and Aurora die. I'm pretty sure you'll unfortunately outlive us both." Finishing with a short laugh.

That earned him a stern glare from both ladies in his party.

"I fail to see what's funny about such words, Brim." Aurora said in a scolding manner, before raising her own mug to drink.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry guys." Brim returned, while making a faint defensive gesture with both of his hands, his smile still present. "Though to be fair it's not like all of us have a crush on someone from one of the great families, who is part of the military, so we try to get in there as well, with pristine reputations in order to impress them." He said in a teasing manner as his face was colored by a smirk, which faced Neymara.

A faint blush colored the elven maiden’s face. She sipped from her mug before saying. "Bah, don't be silly. Who would like someone who makes riding one of the dreadful beasts from the Colony seem so majestic..." A dreamy look colored her face. "...or looks like a star when his face is grazed by the moonlight~..."

"Not to mention what they say about dark elves and their feet." Brim jokingly added with a mischievous chuckle.

Neymara's eyes cracked open, her face turning blood red. "T-THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING!" She shouted, bashing the side of his face with her fist.

Stabilizing himself the man shouted back at her as he rubbed his cheek. "MAGMIUS' BALLS, LEARN TO TAKE A JOKE YOU TRAMP!"

"Guys you're going overboard ag-..." Aurora tried to cease the scuffle, but was cut off by Neymara.

"THAT'S LORD MISTWEAVER, HEAD OF THE IM’PALE RIDERS AND ONE OF THE TOP COMMANDERS OF THE UNITED ARMY YOU'RE JOKING ABOUT, YOU SLIMY BASTARD!”

"OH I BET YOU HAVE A PORTRAIT OF HIS STASHED AT YOUR BUNK AND YOU RECITE HIS TITLES TO IT EVERY NIGHT, YOU DUMB FLOOZY!"

Immediately after that, both of them butted their heads, with comically angry expressions plastered over their faces, while each tried to push against the other.

"You trying to pick a fight you little shit?" Neymara uttered in a deep threatening tone.

"Just try and your ass will fly out of the tavern you hag." Brim responded, matching her tone.

"ENOUGH!" Aurora shouted, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. The very moment she did so an invisible force pushed the pair sitting across from her off the bench they were sitting on, causing them to fall flat on their backs, staring up at her wide eyed.

Putting on a grim expression, the sorceress said. "You two are going to cease this and make up, or I'll set your hair on fire, understood?"

The two simply nodded. After that Aurora raised her hands, open palms facing the ceiling, and closed them into fists, while her fingers made an upwards motion. Upon doing so, the two got picked up from the ground by the same invisible force that pushed them, and were seated back on the bench by it.

After a sigh Aurora asked. "Sheesh, why am I still friends with you two? Or to be more precise, why am I still playing the role of your nanny?" As she sat down on the other bench, closed her eyes and put her left hand over her eyes.

"If I had to guess, either we are too charming, or you enjoy breaking up these little fights of ours." Brim said jokingly.

This time all three of them shared a quiet laugh, before the sorceress returned. "You know Brim, as weird as it might sound I think there is truth to that."

"Actually the better question is, why am I still friends with you?" Neymara spoke up. "I've gotten in trouble because of you guys quite a few times."

"Well it's not like you never caused trouble we had to get you out of Neymara." Aurora returned.

"For example, that time when you accused the headmaster of our squad of incompetence during training." Brim added, raising his mug to drink.

"But he was incompetent!" She protested.

"So you had to go up against him on a trial before the City Guard's commanding officer and the College's Principal?" Aurora asked with a hint of joking disapproval in her tone.

"Hey, he is the one who couldn't handle criticism and decided to take the matter to higher authority." Neymara explained. "Besides, the trial did go in favor of my claim and got him replaced by our current headmaster."

"Who is an utter pain in my arse." Brim groaned. "I still keep wondering how you got me and Aurora to back up your claim back then..."

"Quite simple really. Aurora was sensible enough to see my point, and you were gullible enough for both of us to get you on board." The elven maiden stated.

"Well, among all of our "adventures", the one thing I'll never forget though is the day we all met." Aurora said, bearing a sincere smile.

"It's kind of hard to forget, considering you two burned down nearly my entire house." Neymara laughed out.

"Hey!" Brim cut in, speaking in a joking manner. "We helped put out the fire and pay for the damages."

"Good thing you did, because otherwise I would have been left out on the street. Fortunately, the worst thing that happened as a result of the whole fiasco was one of the teachers in the college permanently losing all the hair on his head." The elveness said with relief.

"Yeah, you'd think that because you don't have to go to classes led by that teacher." Aurora deadpanned.

The military clad duo responded with an awkward laugh.

"'Ere ye go fellas." A dark brown haired and bearded dwarf, wearing a light green shirt over black tattered pants, stated as he left a long plate, carrying a small, crispy roasted lamb surrounded by vegetables, on the trio's table.

"Thank you very much, sir Ginlib." Brim nodded in his direction as he reached for one of the lamb's legs.

However, before he could even touch the meal, Ginlib's heavy hand slapped his own, forcing the younger man to pull it back, flashing the dwarf a questioning glare, to which he replied.

"'O Ah see ‘ow it is. As soon as ye get somethin' steamin' in front of ye, ye'r all ready ta dig in. But ye can't stay sober through an entire lesson on maintainin’ ye'r weapon and armor?"

The situation got a quiet laugh out of the ladies on the table.

"Hey it's not my fault your brother isn't as good of a speaker as you are Ginlib." Brim said in his defense.

Not pleased by the man's words, the dwarf glared at him and waved his index finger in his face. "Ye better start considerin' ‘im good enough! Ye ain't gonna be a green fruit growin' in de comfort o'de barracks foreva! Trumbin won't always be there ta ‘elp ye fix yer gear. Ye gotta learn ‘ow ta do it yerself lad."

"Alright, alright, I'll pay more attention during your brother's lectures, I promise! Can I eat in peace now?" Brim groaned.

"Just make sure Ah don' ‘ear from ‘im ‘bout ye slackin’ again. If Ah do, ye'll lose the privilege o’ me "friend service" business policy." Ginlib warned.

"Sure, sure. Don't worry." The man assured, an awkward expression coloring his face.

The sorceress's right arm shook lightly, attracting the attention of everyone present.

"The "hunch arm" again?" Brim asked casually.

"Seems so." Aurora replied as she tore herself a leg from the lamb.

"’Unch arm? ‘Aven't ‘eard that one before. What's it 'bout lass?" Ginlib questioned, raising a curious brow.

"You see, whenever I have a strange feeling about something, or I try to make a decision, or I have forgotten something, my right arm begins to twitch like so. But I don't know why's it doing it now." The fiery haired woman explained, before shrugging and asking. "So Brim, how come you guys get a day off today?"

Looking at her with a miniscule hint of worry the man explained. "The whole city guard has been organized to closely watch the city, because Councilman Sentef of the Irukari family has come to personally observe the level advancement exams at the college later today, thus there is no one left to train the cadets, so we get the day off."

"Oh, well that's nice." Aurora said, before biting off from the leg and closing her eyes to savor the flavor.

At that moment, both Brim and Neymara looked at each other with deadpan expressions, before slowly turning to face their friend.

"Three." Brim said.

"Two." Neymara added.

"One." Both ended in unison.

As if on queue, Aurora's eyes shot open, wide as dinner plates and she shouted in fear. "Sweet Magmius, the exam is today! And it's nearly time for it!"

Downing her drink in a single gulp she got off of the bench she was sitting on and ran towards the inn's door, the unfinished leg piece still in her hand, while shouting out. "See you guys later!"

The members of her party simply stared after her, their expressions unchanged.

"The future wizards that will protect our world..." Neymara sighed out.

"The future seems pretty bleak, doesn't it?" Brim asked rhetorically.

"Oh shut yer pieholes and ‘ave some faith in the lass!" Ginlib said disapprovingly as he slapped both of them at the backs of their heads.

Bursting out of the inn, Aurora made several swift circular motions with her free hand, pointing at the ground. In an instant a sudden gust of air swooped her off the street and flew her at the towering visage of the city's Mage College at immense speed.

* * *

Almost everyone from the city had gathered in a massive cheering crowd, split in two halves by Carosi's main street, down which Councilman Sentef's convoy was making its way. The Councilman rode in a crystal carriage, pulled by two massive six legged gray horses. The carriage was surrounded by four knights riding normal horses dressed in armor, and in addition the City Guard, who formed two lines in front of the crowd, all to ensure the mage's safety. His visage could be clearly seen through the glass like crystal. 

Gray hair and beard covered most of his face, showing the elf's great age, which was nearly a century over one millennium. The small patches of his skin that could be seen showed the typical for his race's slightly darker than his hair shade of gray. Among the neutral painting shined his light purple eyes, which were a special sight, reserved only for his family bloodline. The rest of his body, the exception being his dark brown leather boots and bluish-black cotton trousers, was covered by a black cloak. 

He wasn't particularly phased by the crowd's cheers, but what caught his interest was a loud scream. It seemed that that was also the case with everybody else as Carosi's people silenced themselves and the convoy halted its advance. Sentef stepped out of his carriage to see what was going on. For some reason everyone around had locked their gazes forward into the sky, so he followed their example, and to his surprise saw the form of a woman, dashing through the sky and screaming, leaving the elf with an awkwardly dumbstruck expression on his face.

* * *

##  **_Mage College of Carosi_ **

"...Opar Dawren." A man, whose head lacked any sort of hair coverage, who wore a dark purple robe with golden lining, called out the name of small chestnut haired elven boy, dressed in a white sleeveless shirt, covered by a brown vest, short dark green trousers and sandals, whose green eyes were "hidden" by a pair of glasses. 

Once the man saw Opar he placed a tick next to his name in the list of attending students he carried, continuing on with the last two. "Rasalag Irukari." The bearer of this name was a dark elf, roughly a head taller than the last attendant. His hair was moon white, complimenting his pale purple eyes. His attire consisted of a white shirt with gold lined sleeves, contrasted by black cotton trousers and boots of the same color. At the moment of his mentioning his arms were crossed and a smug grin was plastered over his face, showing every bit of pride his name brought him. 

After ticking his name the bald man sighed and let out. "And last but not least..."

"LOOK OUT!" A loud shout was heard from outside, causing everyone in the room to take several steps away from the nearby window made from colored glass. Which was apparently a very good idea as a few heartbeats later a large golden orb smashed through the window, scattering glass all around, but without harming anyone. 

The orb rolled forward for a moment, before vanishing and throwing Aurora face first right in front of the bald man's feet. He in turn said with a deadpan. "...miss Aurora Kindle..." After which he brought his palm over his eyes and took a deep breath.

The sorceress immediately got back up on her feet and began quickly bowing to the man while blurting out. "Master Jerbalt, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!..." But stopped once the man raised his hand.

"Save it, miss Kindle. Just clean up your mess." Jerbalt said with disinterest.

An expression of guilt colored her features as she turned around, raising her arms in a V, her fingers positioned as if they were clasped around a round object and pointed down. That caused all of the shattered glass shards to levitate up from the ground. Next in a swirling motion she brought her hands together, her fingers still keeping their positions, as if merging the two imaginary round objects into one. Then the levitating shards flew up to the broken window and took their former places. Lastly she stretched her fingers, opening her palms, which sent a wave of heat in between the broken shards, melting them together and restoring the window as it was, before she had crashed into it.

"Maybe you should just quit on practicing sorcery and seek a career in window repair. I mean, you're already an expert in breaking them, might as well make some coin off of it." Rasalag mockingly said, causing most of the gathered students to laugh.

"S-Shut up! I just haven't figured out how to land yet!" Aurora stuttered out, crossing her arms and turning her face to the side to hide her pout.

"Well you wouldn't have to, if you were competent enough to learn the teleportation spell." The elf remarked, producing another wave of laughs.

A sensation of shame washed over the young sorceress, but for some reason she felt an increasing amount of warmth radiating from the upper palm of her right arm, which started to twitch.

The laughter ceased when Jerbalt clapped his hands a few times and loudly stated. "Students, silence yourselves!" As he did so, Aurora secretly grabbed her right wrist with her left hand and squeezed in an attempt to make the twitching stop. 

Jerbalt continued. "I expect you all to approach this matter as mature adults and not act like spoiled children who simply come here to pass the time." He turned towards Rasalag. "That goes double for you mister Irukari. The fact that Councilman Sentef is your uncle does not give you the right to misbehave, nor does it give you any special privileges which you can abuse. With or without his presence you need to uphold the standard of nobility that your family has set, not partake in such juvenile activities such as mocking others. Because I know from experience that the Irukari house does not produce spoiled dimwits. Am I clear?" He sternly questioned.

"Yes, Master." Rasalag returned as he took a still stance and looked down.

Circling the students with his stern gaze one final time, Jerbalt stated. "The Councilman will be arriving any minute now. Follow me to the examination chamber."

Nodding their heads, everyone followed.

* * *

Half an hour had passed since the bizarre occurrence in the sky and Sentef's carriage had finally exited the main street onto a wide open plaza at the center of which the visage of Carosi's College towered. Stepping off the crystal construct, the dark elf walked towards the building's large gate as the horsemen that accompanied him formed two lines on either of his sides. When he was a mere step away from them the wings of the gate opened inwardly, leading Sentef into a spacious hall, where a single woman vigilantly waited.

"Grand Magus, it is an honor to welcome you to our college." The woman said as she bowed to the elf.

Her long straight hair bore the color of the sun, which finely complimented her lime green eyes. Her attire consisted of a red corset and vest over her upper body, the corset being attached to her leggings, which ended with high heeled boots, both of which were red as well. Her forearms were covered by long red fingerless gloves, which reached slightly above her elbow, and her bare shoulders were covered by a thin red silk veil.

"It is a pleasure, Archmage Isabella." Sentef formally returned as he bowed his head in return.

"Shall we proceed to the examination chamber?" Isabella asked as she gestured to the staircase behind her.

"Certainly." The elf said and both made their way up the stairs.

"Archmage, as principal of this College I trust that you have knowledge of everything related to it." Sentef spoke up after a short while.

"Yes, Grand Magus. As most other College Cities, our relationship with the townsfolk is quite deep, so you can say that everything that happens in this city is related to the College and I know of it. Is there anything specific about Carosi that piqued your interest?" Isabella asked, turning to face the elf.

"As a matter of fact there is..." Sentef returned, with a hint of awkwardness in his tone. He continued. "As my convoy was making its way towards the College we noticed...someone, a woman I believe, frantically flying through the air in the direction of our destination. Do you happen to know what that was about?"

Isabella's face suddenly darkened with embarrassment as she reluctantly replied. "Y...Yes...That's one of our students, miss Aurora Kindle. She is...um...a special one, so to say."

"Special how?" The elf inquired.

"Well she has a great potential as far as raw power for spells goes. However, despite being quite vigilant in her studies she has trouble harnessing most of her power for more complex incantations. She is capable of a few as far as I know, but some adept level spells elude her, teleportation being one. However she has a good connection with the non physical elements, fire and air, and uses powerful currents made of them for travel." Isabella explained. "But after a few incidents she was forbidden to use fire as a means of transport..." She embarrassedly added.

"She does seem quite peculiar. I'm curious what is the extent of her magical output, since she causes an Archmage unease. Could you arrange for us to meet?" Sentef requested.

"That will not be necessary Grand Magus. She is in the same class as your nephew and will be participating in today's examination. You'll be able to meet her there." Isabella returned.

"That is sufficient lady Isabella." The elf stated, before continuing. "Speaking of, what have you selected as this year's examination?"

"We have selected medicinal magic for the examination. It is chosen in almost no other College when it comes to the students' advancement to higher levels of study, that's why we decided to use it here at the Carosi College, in order to prevent our students from receiving outside help for cheating from students from other Colleges." Isabella explained.

"Very thoughtful of you Archmage, and comendably so. Hardship without an easy route is often the best teacher." Sentef spoke with a hint of pride in his tone, which was backed up by the faint smile on his face.

"Your praise is appreciated, Grand Magus. The exam itself would not be possible without your son, lord Mistweaver. How does he fare?" The woman inquired.

"He fares well. He will be turning a hundred and fifty some moons from now. But in what way has he aided the examination?" The elf asked back.

"Forgive me, but I must reserve the explanation for the students. I trust you do not object to this?" Isabella said.

"No, I do not. Few know it, but I am somewhat fond of surprises." Sentef noted as they continued on.

* * *

The exam was about to take place within a chamber that was actually a spacious terrace on the side of the tower that was the College. The early afternoon sun shined within through a dome of blue glass that covered the entire room. The center of the room's floor was a spiral stone diagram. On the wall that faced opposite of the College's structure were five long rows of marble benches, each row standing higher than the previous, all of which were currently taken by the students.

On the very front row that was closest to the ground sat the most prestigious and capable students, the middle being taken by Rasalag. Aurora was seated on the fifth row, chin cupped in her hands, elbows rested slightly over her knees and a gloomy expression covered her visage. 

Her attention was caught by a sudden movement to her side. Turning her head the sorceress saw the elven boy Opar Dawren, whose feet were a couple of inches away from the floor, shaking in his place, fright obvious on his face.

"What's wrong Opi?" She asked as she straightened her back and set her arms on the bench.

He slightly jumped in his place at the sound of her voice. After a couple of quick and deep breaths he regained some form of composure and answered. "N-Nothing miss Aurora." The formal response earned him a disapproving glance from the sorceress as he continued. "I'm just very worried. I'm not very powerful and I fear that I'll look like a disappointment in front of the Grand Magus, and that that will reflect poorly on the College."

Aurora merely stared at him with bewilderment. "You jest right now, right?" She let out, her tone sounding similar to being offended. "You're one of the hardest working students that I know. Not only do you get good grades on your studies, but you also know tons of spells..." Her face slightly darkened from shame. "...Unlike me. As far as I know, my dumb luck is probably going to make me the laughing stock of the College today, or worse..."

"Don...Don't say that, miss Aurora. I'm no better than anyone when it comes to studying, and while I can cast a multitude of spells, almost all of them are at a novice level. I can harness enough magic to perform but a single adept spell. You on the other hand have incredible power. Even if you know less spells, yours are far more complex than the ones I am able to perform. I'm certain you'll be able to impress the Grand Magus." The elf protested, putting on an awkward expression as he raised his hands with open palms in front of his chest.

Looking back up at him, Aurora placed her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. "Nothing personal Opi, but the only thing I could possibly impress the Councilman with would be my clumsiness, and I'm pretty sure that if I were to rely on that I'd get the opposite result."

"You underestimate yourself too much, miss Aurora." Opar said, chuckling lightly.

"Look who's talking." She returned, chuckling herself, giving him a light jab in the shoulder.

Both shared a quiet laugh, Opar rubbing the spot where Aurora had hit him, after which the sorceress said. "I'm sure you'll do good today, but if it'll make you feel better I wish you good luck." And smiled sincerely at the elf.

He returned the smile and nodded his head affirmatively. "I wish you luck too miss Aurora."

Moments later, blue flames appeared on the wall opposite of the benches, forming a rectangular shape. Then the flames vanished as suddenly as they appeared, their previous shape now being replaced by glass which held Isabella and Sentef's images within itself. The images moved forward and exited through the glass, which rippled like a liquid when the pair passed through it. Once both the human and the elf were within the room, the same blue flames as before washed over the glass, causing it to vanish, once again leaving the bare stone wall of the room.

During the examinations the students had to fully utilize their powers. In order to protect the citizens of Carosi and the integrity of the College itself the examination chamber had been constructed so that all that happened within it would remain contained there. That was mandatory for all of the Colleges around the world.

When the mages entered, Jerbalt turned towards them and all of the students present stood up from their seats.

The Archmage walked over to the center of the room, facing the students, and spoke. "Students of the Carosi College. Today you shall demonstrate your abilities and be examined in order to determine which ones amongst you are fit to have higher tiers of magic be revealed to them. And this year a member of the Council has come to witness your performance. Show your respect for Grand Magus Sentef Irukari." Upon announcing the name, Isabella stepped to the side, freeing the center for the old elf.

As he made a step forward, all twenty students along with Jerbalt bowed and recited in sync. "Our greetings Grand Magus. We are humbled by your presence and honored that you graced us with it."

A proud smile colored Sentef's face, after which he raised his hand and returned. "I thank you all for the kind words. Now please, take your seats." Everyone did as Sentef commanded, then he continued. "Remember to always give your best, for you young sorcerers are the future of Amargul. Many generations before you have fought for you and did their best to provide you with the safety you now live in. Ever since you set foot in this College you have vowed to repay them by doing what they did for the future generations. But what is most important of all, never be discouraged in the face of failure. It is the greatest teacher of all, and as mages it is your duty to face your mistakes and take full responsibility for any consequences that come from them. Retain fortitude, persevere, follow your goals without wavering and you shall become stronger than ever."

At the end of his speech the chamber erupted with the vigorous claps of all other attendants. What they were not aware of however, was that as he spoke Sentef had cast a non verbal spell with his mind, which allowed him to see the magic potential of others and had been scanning the students.

'A promising bunch indeed. Apparently their capabilities dictate their social status even in this small level of society.' The elf thought as he surveyed them.

Thoughts of pride came through his mind as he saw how his nephew, who had occupied the middle of the front row bench, radiated a large violet pulsing aura of magic around himself. The other students who were on the same bench had auras of similar size, but not quite as dense. As his gaze moved up the rows the auras became smaller and more diluted. But once he looked at the last row his pupils slightly shrunk, while his eyes widened, causing him to nearly lose his composure, as he saw Aurora, who had a fiery aura, roughly three times the size of his nephew's, pouring out of her. 

'Magmius' breath...that must be the girl the Archmage spoke of. Isabella did not jest when she said that she had potential. Though it somewhat bothers me how incompetent the girl must be to not be able to utilize her powers until now.'

And another thing which surprised him was a small black spot on the upper side of her hand. But before he could inspect it more closely he noticed the faint glow of a white aura next to that of Aurora. The boy it came out of was shaking in his seat, slightly tilting his body to the side as if to hide from Sentef's eyes.

'Hmph. Compared to most of the others his prowess is rather pathetic. I wonder if he'll bloom forth or crumble if he is given the attention of his peers?' The old elf thought as the Archmage spoke up herself.

"This year's examination shall be based on medicinal magic." After a few quiet groans of disappointment she addressed Sentef. "Grand Magus, if you please." Gesturing for him to step off of the spiral center.

Nodding to her, the Councilman stepped off. Then Isabella opened her palm, green energy sliding over it and swirling around it as she slowly raised it up. Following her movement the spiral opened up and a stone pillar erected itself from underneath it. On top of it lay the body of an elf, it's entire skin purple with brought out red veins.

"The unfortunate soul before you is one from the regiment under the command of General Mistweaver, Grand Magus Sentef's son." The Archmage addressed the students, who let out a collective gasp at the sight of the body. "During their latest patrol near the Rogue Rift Split, the General's unit was ambushed by Phantoms of the Cael Imperium. The bullets used by the Phantoms infected several of our soldiers with a virus that killed them." She gestured at the dead elf. 

"This is the result of the virus. A few of the deceased soldiers like the one here were known to have no family ties, so they were spread amongst the Colleges with the task to determine what this virus is, how it functions and if we can find a way to protect ourselves from it. That will be your exam today." Then Isabella looked at Jerbalt.

Nodding to her, the mage brought up the list of students he had been holding and spoke as he turned to face them. "The first to participate in the exam shall be..."

As he spoke, Rasalag smirked and prepared to stand up.

"...Ra-" Jerbalt was cut off by the Grand Magus, who stated. 

"That one." And pointed up the rows, until his finger was directly in front of Opar.

"M-M-Me?" The elven boy stuttered out as he immediately stood up, the eyes of his peers now locking onto him.

"Yes lad. What is your name?" Sentef asked, a faint smile coloring his face.

"Opar Dawren, s-sir." Opar replied, doing his best to keep both his voice and posture firm.

Jerbalt bore a confused expression, which he turned towards the Archmage in hope of guidance. Isabella bore an equally surprised expression as she stepped towards the Councilman and inquired. "Grand Magus, we had already established an order in which the students would face the examination. Why do you wish for them to appear in another lineup?"

"If I were a betting man, Archmage, I'd wager that the lineup you had selected began with your best performing students, and by the time all of said students were done, the point of the examination would most probably be complete. All of that no doubt was prepared with the intent to impress me. But I wish to see how the "not so popular" amongst the students perform." Sentef explained, after which he turned his gaze from Isabella and back to Opar, continuing.

"And for some reason this young man was cowering behind his peers. There is no need to be afraid, young Opar. You are a sorcerer are you not? Warriors may pride themselves with it, but true bravery is exhibited by us sorcerers, who delve into the dangerous teachings of the arcane." He spoke to the boy in a reassuring manner. "Now, step forth and show us the bravery needed to overcome the shadow of ignorance and obtain the power that is knowledge."

Opar was hesitant for a few moments, before he felt a faint nudge on his left. Turning his head, he saw Aurora's smiling face.

"Go for it. You can handle it." She whispered to him.

Taking a breath to calm himself, the elf nodded and made his way down the rows, while the Councilman sat at the center of the front row, his nephew on his right side.

"Uncle shouldn't I have gone first? To show the rest of the...attendants...how such an important task is properly done. Why did you give that four-eyed clod the first try?" Rasalag displeasedly asked Sentef, to which the elder replied.

"Spitting venom against our fellows, be it secretly or not, nor is arrogance something our family is famed for. I do not know what my niece has taught you, but while I draw breath I shall not allow for these traits to tarnish the honor of our name. And speaking of teaching, patience is a virtue you'd be wise to learn."

The young elf was about to protest, but the sight of his superior's firm expression made him close his eyes and bow his head in submission, before saying. "Yes, uncle."

Opar halted his advance a step away from the body and turned to face the Archmage, who said. "You have your instructions mister Dawren. Begin."

Nodding, Opar turned to face the body. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and raised one of his arms forward with an open palm, while thinking. 'Alright Opar. Do this step by step. Step one, analysis and understanding. Apprentice level spell - scanning.'

As his thoughts passed through his mind, the air in front of his opened palm began to shimmer in waves as blue energies swirled and got funneled into a small orb right at the center of his palm. The funneling ceased after a couple of moments. That was when Opar opened his eyes, which emitted a faint blue glow, causing the orb to push against his palm, the energy coating his hand like a glove. When the coating process was completed, the elf reached down for the forehead of the deceased elf.

Aurora's smile remained on her face while she observed her friend cast his spell. 'Don't underestimate yourself Opi. A smart kid like you can handle this easily.' She thought.

However, her smile faded when she noticed her right arm beginning to twitch. 'Curses, what now?!' The sorceress shouted mentally, before a sudden feeling of dread washed over her. 'W-What is this...' She looked back at Opar. 'I don't know why, but I feel as though something horrible is going to happen.'

The young elf's hand touched the forehead, engulfing the area in blue light as blue letters began striding over Opar's eyes. 'Alright. The virus is...not organic. The cause are...small machines that cause the cells to mutate at an accelerated rate until they die. And it is...-'

Before he could finish his train of thought, Opar's eyes widened and a blood chilling scream escaped his lungs as he fell back on the floor, clutching the arm with which he cast the scanner spell at the triceps with his other hand.

The students gasped in shock, frightened by the elf's continuing screams of pain. After several heartbeats they could plainly see that his hand began to turn the same shade of purple as the body on the pillar, along with the blood vessels widening immensely and turning a vibrant shade of red.

Contrary to the panicking students, the adults present stood their ground, stoic expressions of disappointment coloring their faces. When the infection covered half of the boy's hand, Jerbalt went to Isabella and asked. "Archmage, should I-?"

"No. Outside help is forbidden during examinations. Mister Dawren needs to collect himself and handle this by himself." The Archmage decreed.

Nodding his head in submission, Jerbalt stood next to her and watched the ceaseless screaming as the infection began spreading up the wrist.

"Opar!" A shout gathered everyone's attention towards Aurora, who shot up from her seat and dashed down the rows to help her friend.

However, her advance was stopped by Sentef, who had caught her by the wrist of her right hand as the girl tried to pass next to him on his left.

"Aurora what do you think you're doing?" Isabella demanded.

"Young lady, compose yourself. Magic is no stroll through a flower field. Mister Dawren should have taken precaution, but he didn't. It was his mistake to make. Now he must face the consequences of that mistake and resolve them." The Councilman sternly spoke.

Aurora's frantic expression moved from the dark elf's stern gaze towards her suffering friend, whose screams made her even more tense. For a moment she focused on his arm to see that the infection had almost reached the elbow.

A mix of rage and determination took hold of her expression, her eyes flickering as if they were living flames. "He needs help, now!" She shouted, trying to tug her arm out of Sentef's grasp.

The Grand Magus had no doubt that his physical strength would undoubtedly prevail over the girl's, but he did not expect for a small fiery explosion to erupt from her hand, which made him let go as he painfully grunted, pulling his hand back. The scene shocked everyone even more, this time the effect spread to both Jerbalt and Isabella.

Free at last, Aurora leaped from her location, next to Opar. After pulling off the hand he was clutching his arm with, a wide thin blade of highly concentrated fire formed in the palm of Aurora's right hand, which she plunged in the elf's arm, right at the biceps. The action itself, along with the burning sensation, produced the loudest scream out of Opar so far, after which he passed out.

With a single retracting move of the fiery blade the elf's arm was lopped off and Aurora kicked it away as the infection fully covered it. Then she looked down at the cut, which had blood pouring out of it, and gasped as if she had no idea what she had done, letting out. "Dear Magmius!"

Following that she immediately brought up both of her arms, pointing her open palms directly at the wound. Green light emanated from her palms and shined over the burned and bleeding stump, causing the tissues of flesh to regenerate and tie themselves shut, slowing down the bleeding to an almost complete stop.

Before she could treat it any further, a firm hand grabbed Aurora by the neck and pulled her up to her feet.

"Ow!" The sorceress let out at the sudden action.

Looking back she saw it was Archmage Isabella, who bore a furious expression, who had stood her up.

"Master Jerbalt, take the boy to the infirmary." Isabella commanded.

Responding immediately, Jerbalt waved his hand over Opar, encasing him in a golden orb which floated into the air. Then he raised his other hand, fingers clenched together, except for his middle and index fingers, which were pointed forward, and made a downward slashing motion with them. That caused a rift to split the air, forming a purple portal, through which Jerbalt pulled the orb that carried Opar.

Next the Archmage turned her attention to the Councilman. "Grand Magus, are you alright?"

"Yes." Sentef said through gritted teeth as he clenched his burned hand into a fist. Suddenly a glowing green orb engulfed his fist and vanished a moment later. Then he opened his palm to reveal it fully healed.

Somewhat calmed by that, Isabella brought her attention to the sorceress in her grasp. "Are you out of your mind, girl? Have you not been reminded enough of how strict the rules of the examinations are? Opar Dawren had to deal with this himself, yet you dared to not only violate that rule, but harm a member of the Council as well?!"

"Principal, Opar needed help! He was going to die!" Aurora tried to protest.

"And how do you know that? He is a capable student. He would have most certainly been able to handle himself if he had enough time to calm himself. Now because of you he will remain a cripple for life." The Archmage dismissed the claim.

Incapable of saying anything in return, Aurora looked away in shame, closing her eyes in acceptance of her upcoming punishment.

"I have been patient, and done my best to help you overcome your troublesome nature as much as possible, but this charade exceeds any restraint I could ever exhibit. I won't stop the Grand Magus from having you put on trial for assaulting him."

"Do not try to predict my actions Archmage." Sentef cut in. "This was farm from an assault. More a child having an outburst from fear for her friend. She most definitely stepped out of line and deserves punishment for it, but considering the circumstance I wouldn't go for something as drastic as putting her on a trial."

Isabella once again turned her gaze to Aurora. "It seems your luck hasn't run out completely." She scornfully said as she let the sorceress go. "Aurora Kindle, for breaking the rules of the examination and injuring a fellow classmate and an important guest, you are hereby expelled from the Mage College of Carosi."

Tears streamed out of Aurora's closed eyes as she simply stood there. The Archmage snapped her fingers and a purple circle of magic appeared above Aurora's head. It then fell down, the girl vanishing with it. The same circle formed outside, right in front of the gates of the College, and raised itself up, materializing Aurora in the process. After taking a last glance at the towering building she had grown so fond of, the sorceress turned around in shame and slowly made her way back to her house.

The atmosphere in the examination chamber had grown grim.

Sentef casually glanced back down at his hand, the moment of its short timed injury replaying in his mind. The magic detecting spell he had used was still in effect when it occurred. At the very moment the girl had released the flames that freed her, the black spot of energy he had noticed on the upper side of her hand expanded into a giant explosion, which washed the elf in a wave of immense power. And it was that sensation that had piqued his interest.

"Grand Magus, are you certain that you are alright?" Isabella asked, slight concern still present in her tone.

"Absolutely." He quickly replied, turning his attention to her. "Archmage, may I request a favor from you?"

"To make up for this shameful display, anything Grand Magus." The Archmage returned.

"I would like for my nephew to be excused from this examination." Sentef calmly said.

"What?!" Both Isabella and Rasalag exclaimed in union.

"But Grand Magus, why would you desire for such a thing?" The woman could not help but ask.

"There is a task I wish my nephew to complete for me, but it has to be done immediately." The elf turned to his nephew. "You're a capable lad, you'll be able to effortlessly complete next year's examination, will you not?"

"Y-Yes, uncle. I will. What will you have me do?" The boy questioned.

"We shall return promptly, Archmage." Sentef stated as he and his nephew exited the chamber in the same manner as he had originally entered together with Isabella. Less than a minute later, the Grand Magus returned, once again taking his seat and proceeded to observe the rest of the examination.

* * *

It was the late afternoon when Aurora returned to her house. Slowly closing the door behind herself, she silently walked into the living room, where she grabbed a chair and slammed it into the ground in a fit of rage. Then she fell to her knees and broke down crying. 

Suddenly her right arm became a shade of muddy green, with a fiery orange gem embedded above the palm. The great emotional turmoil of the moment had caused the glamour spell, which made her arm look normal, to come undone, revealing its original stone like texture.

"Curse you!" She shouted through her weeping. Looking at her abnormal arm she shouted again, this time at it. "Why do you make me ruin everything, every time there is a chance for something good to happen to me? Why?! What did I ever do to deserve you and everything that came with you?! Magmius damn it, what?!"

With that she slowly let herself fall on the floor. She curled in a ball and continued to cry, until exhaustion brought her the comforting embrace of sleep.

* * *

Loud banging over a wooden surface pulled the sorceress out of her dreamless slumber. Aurora woke up to find herself lying on the floor of her house. A quick glance out of a window revealed to her that dusk had already taken dominion of the sky.

Then the banging noise returned. Now that she was conscious, Aurora identified it as someone furiously knocking on her front door. Her puzzlement as to who it was vanished as the new wave of knocks was followed by Brim's voice.

"Aurora! Open up! Quickly!" The man called out.

Getting up, Aurora focused to restore the glamour over her arm and walked up to the door, carefully opening it. "What is it Brim?" She confusedly asked. Her confusion grew even more when she looked past Brim and saw Neymara, who had her back turned to them and surveyed the street. But the most surprising thing to Aurora was the fact that both had brought weapons with them.

Brim had a steel shield strapped to his back, and carried a sword on the side of his leg. Neymara on the other hand held the sky blue ornate bow, which was a family relic. It was in fact enchanted with light magic, allowing its user to create arrows of pure light out of thin air, by just pulling its string.

"Just hurry up, we'll explain on the way!" Brim returned, after which he grabbed Aurora by the wrist of her left arm and pulled her out of the house.

"H-Hey! Wait!" The sorceress protested as her friends broke into a sprint, pulling her along with them. "I didn't close the door!"

"That is not something you should worry about right now." Brim stated.

"Neymara, what in Magmius' name is going on?!" Aurora demanded.

"I don't know what happened at the examination today, but after it was finished the Councilman came to the City Guard's keep. He said that his nephew had seen you change your arm and shout to a gem embedded in it, as if you were possessed. So the Grand Magus ordered the Guard to capture, subdue and bring you to him." The elven maiden hastily explained.

"What?!" Aurora shrieked. "When was that? Wasn't he at the examination?"

Neymara turned her head back to look at Aurora. "So you don't deny his claims?"

An expression of shock colored the sorceress' face. Before she could utter a word however, the elveness added. "Don't worry. We won't let our friend be captured without proper evidence that she has done something wrong. But after that you have some explaining to do, do you understand?"

Aurora dared not speak and just nodded.

As they turned a corner the trio was faced with a wall of city guards, all fully armored.

"Look, the cadets have apprehended her." One of the guards stated, pointing at them with his sword.

"Good job you two. But the orders were specifically for the guards to make the arrest, not cadets." Another called out to them.

But, to the guards' surprise, the trio took a sharp turn down a side alley.

"They haven't captured her, they're helping her escape! After them men!" The squad's commander ordered as he and the rest of the guards gave chase.

The escapees had neared the exit of the alley, when the commander roared. "Marksmen! Take aim and fire, but don't shoot to kill!"

Mere moments after the order six guards carrying crossbows stepped forward, three kneeling while the other three stood upright, and fired at the trio.

"Shit! Aurora run! Neymara we need cover!" Brim barked as he let go of the sorceress.

In a single swift motion he turned around, grasping the shield from his back and held it firmly, the volley of bolts bounced from the shield's surface, leaving thin scratches.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Neymara returned.

With the flying threat dealt with, Brim picked up the shield and turned back to run, clearing the way for Neymara. She pulled back the string of her bow, causing two arrows of light to appear. Releasing her grasp, the arrows were sent flying into the nearby walls, exploding upon impact and causing a terrace to crumble down, blocking the guards' path. Then the elveness resumed running after her friends.

"Nice shots." Brim commended.

"Save the compliments for after we escape the city." Neymara returned.

"Where are we going?" Aurora questioned.

"No idea. This moron just took off the second he heard that you had to be arrested, so we didn't have time to think of a plan for after we left the city." Neymara explained.

"If we had waited a minute longer we wouldn't be the first ones to reach her house now would we?" Brim called back.

The conversation ended when the trio got out in the park of the city. Before they could run past the fountain that adorned the center of the clearing and head for the western gate of the city, dozens of guards poured out of the streets and surrounded them. Spears, swords and crossbows were pointed at the three from all sides.

The commander of the guard stepped forth, adorned in thick steel armor, and commanded. "By order of Grand Magus Sentef Irukari, you two are to surrender and hand that woman to us, or we will use force."

"We will not!" Brim shouted as he tried to reach for his sword.

"She is our friend! And there are no evidence that she has done anything branding her a criminal!" Neymara added, summoning three light arrows on her bow.

Both of the cadets had turned their backs to one another, Aurora staying between them.

"So be it." The commander stated, before letting out. "Marksmen, fire!"

"NO!" Aurora shouted as she jumped a step forward, her arms outstretched in opposite directions with open palms, and spun in mid air, causing a circle of vibrantly red fire to surround her and her friends, after which the flames shot up into the sky as a torrent, forming a thick wall around the three, incinerating all of the bolts fired in their direction.

A mixture of fear and surprise took hold of Brim and Neymara's faces. They had never even imagined that their friend was this powerful. Turning to face her they could see that her right arm had transformed and resembled the description Rasalag gave.

"Aurora, what is that?" Neymara forced herself to ask.

"I'll be sure to tell you when we're out of trouble." Aurora returned, before putting on a menacing demeanor. 

She brought up the gem up to the same level as her face and spoke. "Alright. I don't know if Rasalag's assumption is correct and there is actually someone in there or not, but I know that whenever I tried to do something proper you made me mess it up. Now I want to do something crazy and stupid, so how about you help me?"

Her companions were shocked when the gem began to glow, as if responding to the sorceress.

"Good." Aurora let out, before turning to her friends. "Grab on and hold on for dear life."

After a moment of hesitation both of them rushed to her side and wrapped their arms around their friend. With them secure Aurora raised her arms in the air and began to spin them above her head. Thick clouds began gathering above the infernal torrent. To the whole of the Guard's immense surprise, a massive gray magical circle the size of the clearing they were in, formed in the sky.

Closing her eyes, the sorceress swiftly brought her arms down, crossing them. In an instant a huge typhoon surged down from the circle, completely blowing away the flame cylinder and the nearby guards, scattering them all around, while sucking up the trio in its center. Within heartbeats the City Guard was scattered all around the park.

The typhoon's force began to push them into the nearby buildings, along with several trees that got uprooted. The men and women began to fear for their lives, when the loud cry of a horse was heard. Turning their heads in the sound's direction they saw Sentef riding on one of the six legged horses he arrived with.

Once at the scene, the Grand Magus stepped off from his steed and calmly walked towards the growing typhoon.

"Councilman be careful!" Someone shouted, but Sentef paid them no attention.

Standing several meters in front of the storm, the elf bent his arm backwards, before forcing it forward with extended fingers. A cyan circle of magic appeared in front of his hand, several serpents of arcane energy shooting out from it directly at the typhoon. The serpents ferociously dug within the torrent of air, causing it to implode, the circle in the sky shattering and the storm vanished.

The guards cheered the success of the Councilman, but he had shut their voices out of his head as he looked with displeasure at the empty field, his target gone.

* * *

Far into the forest on the west of Carosi, light shined in the night sky. Tearing through the clouds was a large golden orb. Tearing through the mighty trees, the orb crashed at the base of a hill with a steep stone wall.

Almost exactly at the moment of impact the orb shattered into magical dust, scattering the trio it kept protected.

"Is everyone alright?" Aurora asked once she gathered her thoughts.

"Yep. But I vote we never do that ag-" Brim groggily spoke, but silenced himself as he brought a hand over his mouth, before turning around and vomiting.

"I second that statement." Neymara returned in the same manner as she sat up.

Once all three could make sense of their surroundings the elveness addressed the sorceress. "Alright, can you please explain to us what the heck is going on, and what happened to your arm?"

Looking down wearily, Aurora sighed and explained.

"When I was four, bandits attacked my home. They killed my parents and cut off my arm." She grabbed her right shoulder with her left hand. "But by some stroke of luck an old wizard happened to be passing close to my house and saved me. He then merged this arm made of some sort of magical stone to my body. To the touch it felt just like flesh and it grew along with my body. But in order to not stand out he taught me a glamour spell with which I could keep it hidden as if it was a normal arm."

She sighed deeply, before continuing. "Then there is the gem on it. Through the arm I could feel it contained great power. And in order to control it the wizard took care of me, raised me and taught me magic. But that was until I was ten. By then he was too old and was...dying. So he sent me to Carosi to further develop my control over magic. And up until today you know the rest." She finished, shame forcing her eyes to tear up.

Her friends looked at each other, each reading worry for Aurora in the other's eyes, after which Brim asked the next most obvious question.

"So, what exactly is the deal with that gem? Why would Rasalag claim that it is possessed?"

"I can't quite explain it myself, but ever since it became part of me, I have felt something like...an influence coming from the gem to guide me. It was the reason for my arm twitches. I never assumed that there could be a being trapped within it." The sorceress paused for a few moments.

Suddenly, her gaze ignited with determination. "But now I will find out!" She stated and began vigorously scratching into the dirt with the index finger of her stone arm.

"Hey, Aurora, what are you doing?" Neymara questioned.

"The wizard always told me to never tap too much of the gem's power and to always keep it hidden, but he would never explain to me why. So now I am going to see what the damn fuss was about." The sorceress sternly replied, not moving her gaze from her drawing.

Her friends looked down to see her scratching the image of an eye with a vertical pupil into the dirt. She then held her hand, with the gem pointing up at the sky, above the drawing.

"That is an...unsealing spell you're about to cast?" Neymara worriedly asked, receiving a single nod in response.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Brim cautiously asked. "The old man must have had a reason to have you not tamper with the gem."

"Honestly Brim, at this very moment I do not care. If I am going to be hunted down for the rest of my life, I would like to know what for." Aurora replied.

A tear escaped her, as she turned to her friends. "Thank you very much for helping me escape. But if this indeed turns out to be something bad I want you to be as far away from me as possible."

"Well, that is not going to happen." Neymara stated as she stood up. "With that charade we pulled off back in Carosi we will most definitely be branded enemies of the state. Our options are just like yours - run and be hunted, or stay and see whether we will discover something glorious, nothing at all, or something that will end our lives in a more painless manner than what the Council will have in store for us."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Brim added.

"You couldn't even if you wanted to brick-head." Neymara teasingly retorted.

"Why you little skank..." The man grumbled, before all three shared a laugh.

"Again, thank you both for everything. Should these be our final moments, I want you to know that I will forever cherish every moment that I lived out with you, in the afterlife." Aurora stated.

"As will we." Her companions said in unison, bearing determined expressions.

Wiping her tears with her left hand, Aurora nodded, before turning her attention back to the gem. She moved her left hand over it, a ball of light formed beneath her palm and bathed the gem with a bright glow.

The sorceress' eyes shined in the same light as she began to chant. "Power of the Dragon Gods, I invoke thee. The secrets of this artifact reveal to me."

Suddenly a shock wave erupted from the gem, sending the three flat on their backs. The wave itself washed over the entirety of the world, and the rest of the universe.

_Within the darkness of the cosmos three golden eyes and one fiery red opened wide as four voices said in unison. "He has returned."_

The trio staggered to sit up in their places.

"Did it work?" Brim asked as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't know." Aurora said as she brought the gem closer to her eyes to examine it. "The spell activated, but I don't feel anything different. Maybe I did it w-"

The sorceress was cut off as her arm shot forward on its own, and a torrent of small fiery orange particles burst from the gem. They swirled to the space between the trio, before replacing their fiery coats with a smoke of darkness.

Shortly after that a form, not taller than that of an average man with a medium build, but leaning slightly more towards slender, formed before them. He wore a black top with an open neck area, tied on both sides by black laces, and matching cloth pants and boots, also black. His raven hair overlapped on the front-right side of his head, the other half being bent backwards, while the bottom part of his hair seemed rather unkempt and stretched down his neck. Thick brows stood upon his slender eyes, that were two blood red moons with snake like pupils, engulfed by darkness. Last, but not least a sly smile colored his rather pale visage.

"At last..." The mysterious man menacingly said, causing unease to the party around him, before shouting, bearing something resembling a crazed smile, into the sky. "I AM BACK!"


	2. The Twelfth Law Of Existence

* * *

##  **Chapter 2: The Twelfth Law Of Existence** ****

* * *

"At last...I AM BACK!" The man shouted at the sky.

The trio stared at him with great unease, unsure of what he would do now.

"Um...w-" Aurora tried to speak to him, but was cut off as the stranger grabbed her hand, pulled her up on her feet and violently shook her hand, saying.

"Thank you for not dying so far. See you at the end of the universe!"

After which he turned around and dashed away with blazing speed, digging a small trench in his wake.

"Wait! Come back!" The sorceress shouted after him.

Just as the words left her mouth a fiery chain burst out from the gem and shot itself in the direction the man had run, whistling past her now standing friends, almost pushing them back down on the ground. And without a moment to examine the situation, the chain began railing itself back within the gem incredibly fast.

The man had run nearly half a mile away from the trio, when a flaming collar materialized around his neck.

"What the-?" He barely let out when a chain hit him in the neck, locking onto the collar and suddenly pulled him back.

For a mere second, at the very moment his advance was halted and he was in mid air, the man's face was colored by a bemused expression and a single thought crossed his mind. 

'Oh shit...'

Immediately after a scream began to pour out of his throat as he flew back through the woods, hitting the occasional tree. This served as an alert for the trio. The minute they saw him, Brim and Neymara took a step away from the chain's path. Aurora however, being the receiving end of the chain, defensively raised her hands, exclaiming. "Wait!"

Her words seemed to have no effect, as the man continued to fly at her with immense speed, now passing between her friends. In the last possible moment she squatted down, covering her head with her hands, shouting out. "Stop!"

In the same manner that it had appeared, the chain and subsequently collar vanished in a harmless explosion of orange particles, as the man flew over the sorceress and slammed face first into the rock wall behind her. All three witnesses winced, imagining the pain he must have experienced.

Slowly the stranger peeled off the wall, falling flat on his back, leaving a hole shaped like him in the monolith. To the trio's surprise he looked relatively fine, the most unnatural thing about him being the expression of disappointment he had on as he stared into the night sky.

"Seriously gramps? That was your sealing spell?..." He spoke in an obviously displeased tone. "Able to walk the physical plane, but still bound to and stuck with all three rejects...You accursed mother-"

"Um, excuse me." His train of thought was interrupted by Aurora, who leaned over his line of sight.

"What?" He blurted out in a sour way.

The sorceress was slightly taken back by his tone, but proceeded with her question. 

"Who...exactly are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He retorted as he got up. Dusting himself off he added. "I'm the guy that's been living in your arm for the vast majority of your life."

"Uh...that's not exactly what I meant." The sorceress awkwardly let out.

"Of course you didn't." The man scoffed, before adding. "To put it in a simple enough manner for you to understand, I am what you call that oversized lizard you worship."

"What did you just call him?!" Neymara angrily barked, clenching her fist.

"What? Do you mean Magmius?" Aurora asked.

"Yes. The giant gecko that created your world. I am that thing that you call him. Can you guess it?" The man sneered.

All three looked at each other confusedly as they unintentionally began putting thought into guessing.

"The father of all dragons?" Brim asked, raising his brow, after a few moments, to which the man shook his head.

"The Creator of Amargul?" Aurora pitched in, but was dismissed as well.

After a few moments of pondering Brim almost jokingly let out. "God?"

"Bingo!" The stranger exclaimed. "Give the man a prize." Causing the trio to become even more confused.

"But in all seriousness, yes. I am a celestial being, or to put it bluntly - God, but unlike the scaly sausage you worship I'm the real thing."

"Aha..." Aurora let out with obvious skepticism. "And what is your name?"

"I don't have one." The man casually replied. "A name is a seal that can be placed upon you by a superior being, but since there is no one but me to fit that role I decided to remain as free as possible and not have a name." He explained, before adding. "I do, however, have lots of titles. Everything anyone has ever called me is within that category, so you could use one of them. The Dark One, Heaven's Scourge, the Destroyer, Doom incarnate or simply Doom,..." He listed on, bearing a proud grin.

"How about the Egomaniacal Arse?" Neymara spat out, crossing her arms. "Fits someone as full of himself as you far better if you ask me."

Worry came over her friends' faces as the man faced the elf. "Oh, we have a comedian in our midst." He chuckled calmly. In the very next instant the humans were nearly thrown to the ground by a powerful gust of wind, while Neymara found herself in the air, feet off the ground, and struggling to breathe as the man squeezed her throat, holding her up with one arm.

"I really love breaking my know-it-all toys." He spoke in a bone chilling tone. "Right now I could snap your neck, tear out your throat, crush your whole neck area or simply squeeze the life out of you. Being the gentleman that I am, I'll let you choose which one you would like best."

"Let her go!" Brim shouted and charged at the man.

Before he could react the stranger elbowed him in the gut, causing Brim to drop to the ground. At that moment Neymara wheezed as the grip on her throat tightened.

"So, what shall it be?" The man calmly asked.

Aurora was frozen by fear. For some reason this stranger emanated an aura that completely shook her being unlike the city guardsmen she had faced. The elf wheezed once again in a vain attempt to breathe.

"You won't say anything? Alright then, it'll be by my preference if you insist." The man grimly chuckled as he tightened his grip even further.

The sorceress couldn't look away, her face locked in shock. No matter how much she wanted it, for some reason she couldn't bring herself to attack the man, so she did the only thing she seemed to be able to at the moment.

"Stop it!..." She yelled out, tears welling up in her eyes.

Her words had no effect as he continued to squeeze.

"...Omnis!"

The very moment the word left her mouth the stranger stopped, his grip loosening slightly. He slowly turned around and asked. "What did you call me?"

Aurora was slightly taken aback by surprise, but quickly shook it off and responded with determination. "Omnis! That is the n-..title I give you. And I demand that you release my friend!"

The man simply stared at her for a moment, before shrugging. "Okay." Upon saying that he dropped Neymara to the ground, who immediately began taking deep gulps of breath.

"I like the sound of it. It has my blessing. From now on you can call me Omnis." Omnis casually stated. "Now missy, we have some things to talk a-"

"I forbid you to harm my friends in any sort of way!" Aurora lashed out at him.

He was taken aback, mostly by surprise and not worry, which quickly passed, a pleased grin forming on Omnis' face. "Well would you look at that. It wasn't all me, you had feistiness of your own buried somewhere in there." After a quiet chuckle he continued. "Alright, I will honor that demand."

"Now tell me how did you get into this gem and what do you want with me!" The sorceress demanded as her friends slowly got up.

"Oh, you're just adorable." Omnis let out, before answering. "That gem as you put it, is a shard from a prison that was made for me. Said particular shard happened to hold my consciousness. And what I want from you is to aid me in finding the rest of the shards which contain the rest of my power, so that I can be returned to my full glory."

"Why? If you are as strong as you claim, why would you need the help of a young sorceress?" She inquired.

"Oh I am as strong as I claim. I don't need your help because I can't make it on my own. I want you to accompany me because of that." He pointed at the gem in her stone arm.

Aurora briefly glanced at the fiery rock, before slowly looking up at Omnis and asking. "What about it?"

"You see, girly, the prison simply contained me, but after its shattering that shard made its way into the hands of the old fart Eldaf that raised you." The man began explaining. "I had words with him and asked for his aid, but due to his stupidity he only saw my darker half and made it his life goal to keep me locked up, using the power within the shard to prolong his life. But he did age, slowly. In a thousand years he was on the brink of death and was looking for a replacement as my warden. Said someone happened to be you."

"What? So that's why he came to my house that night?" She nearly begged out.

"No. That was just a coincidence. And him saving you was purely out of pity." Omnis casually replied. "But since he was on borrowed time he had to take action so he settled on the idea of training you to contain me. But what he did to ensure my submission is why I want you to come with me."

"And what was that?" The question came naturally.

"Other than me being enclosed within the shard he enchanted it additionally so that I was bound to you. As much as it pains me to admit it, you can bring me back to yourself no matter how far I go. And the worst part is I can't just kill you to free myself, because this bond makes it that if you die I die. And frankly I can't have that."

"That's insane! Why would anyone do something like this to another living being?" Neymara shouted.

"She isn't going anywhere, especially with you! We won't let you take her!" Brim barked, taking up his sword from the ground and pointing it at Omnis.

The celestial slowly turned his head and glanced menacingly at the man. "Do you honestly believe you have any sort of say in this?" He mockingly asked.

Not waiting for a response he once again addressed Aurora. "And I must say you owe me quite a bit. I did my best to keep you safe, but backseat driving doesn't yield the same results as taking the wheel yourself. As much as I am furious about it I am also astonished how you managed not to crash us both until now."

The sorceress, and the rest of her party, looked at him as if he was some kind of madman speaking not understandable gibberish.

Brim asked, raising his brow. "What the hell are you saying?"

"Ugh." Omnis groaned. "Point is, I did my best to keep us both safe, while she almost constantly threw herself at danger." He paused briefly, an embarrassed expression coloring his face. "Eeexcept on your first day at the College."

The sorceress immediately grew suspicious. "What do you mean by that? What about the day we first met?"

"Weeelp, when that nerd Jerbalt wanted to see your capabilities by asking you to shoot a torrent of flame at him I was feeling a bit bored. So when he had his protection ward spell ready and you were about to channel the fire...I sorta unleashed a huge amount of my power that was within the gem, and that resulted in the massive torrent that de-haired his head, sent you flying through the city, setting a pretty big part of it on fire, and brought you together with these two." Omnis said, pointing over his shoulder at Brim and Neymara.

All three of them stared at the celestial with gaping mouths.

"THAT WAS YOU?!" They all yelled out in unison.

"Yeah...my bad." He awkwardly let out.

"You could have killed us and everyone in the city!" Neymara shouted, her voice bearing a higher pitch than normal.

"Come on. I was bored and I thought giving that guy's defenses a run for their money would be fun." Another pause occurred as Omnis' expression slightly darkened, after which he said with a hint of worry. "But instead it ended up being a close near death experience..." And then shuddered.

"You thought it'd be fun? YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN?!" Aurora roared out. 

"Do you have any idea how hard you made my life with that stunt?!"

"As a matter of fact I do. I was with you this whole time, remember." Omnis said, not phased by the woman's outburst by even a bit.

"WHY Y-" Before the sorceress could continue, the celestial cut her off. "BUT! If I hadn't done that, you most probably wouldn't have met these schmucks here." He gestured at Neymara and Brim. "So, silver lining."

They wanted to protest, but after quickly giving it some thought, all of them concluded that there was merit to his words. After a few quiet moments, Aurora asked.

"What did you mean by "your darker half" when you spoke about Eldaf?"

"A good question. This one requires a bit of history, but it’s plainly obvious that we have time to spare." The celestial said, before continuing. "Everything is based on balance. If there is no balance, nothing can exist. A VERY long time ago, there was absolutely nothing within the cosmos, except darkness and light - the very first balance. They fought each other for dominance in an eternal struggle."

"Being more prone to adapt, the darkness surrounded the light and crushed it in its grip, turning it into a small glowing orb. As time went by the powers of each side grew, with darkness collapsing on light from every side, until the power within the orb of light grew to such a level that the miniature space in which it was confined to could no longer contain it, resulting in an explosion so massive that it defies common comprehension."

"With their bounds mingled, both established themselves in a more equal matter. Light being the near infinite stars, galaxies and life, all scattered around the vast expanse that was the body of darkness. But in one instance they did not simply settle in coexistence. The energies collided, intertwined and merged into a single entity - me. And that is how the first universe was born, with me as the most powerful being in existence, made out of the purest darkness and the purest light. And, unfortunately, Eldaf only saw the darkness within me."

"Wow." The trio breathed out in wonder.

"So that is how the universe was made?" Neymara asked, her eyes almost glimmering with excitement.

However, she was surprised to receive a rather malicious laugh in response. When he was done laughing, Omnis spoke. "Didn't you hear me? I said that's how THE FIRST universe was born." He emphasized.

"There are other universes?" Aurora let out with astonishment. "What happened to the first one?"

"Why I destroyed it of course." Omnis returned with a grim chuckle.

Silence gripped the situation once again, until it was broken by the elf. "What?!"

"I obliterated every last speck of everything that existed." The celestial said in a cheerful manner.

"Why would you do that?!" Aurora yelled out.

"Simple. I was bored, and I grew a taste for destruction." Was the response she received.

"B-But how are we here then?!" Brim stuttered out.

Omnis deadpanned at the man. "Are you really that dumb? After I was done I got bored of the nothingness, so I remade the whole universe from scratch." He paused. "Then I destroyed it again. Then remade it, and destroyed it. All again and again and again, right up until this point."

All three of them were shocked to hear this.

Gulping, the sorceress was the only one who forced herself to ask. "How many universes have you destroyed so far?"

"Somewhere in the low trillions." The celestial replied casually, his voice completely untroubled by the concept of what he was saying.

"But if you destroyed everything, how did you remain?" Brim asked, disbelief still present in his tone.

"I was just that overpowered. And after the first few universes I went back in time to the very moment of conflict between the light and darkness and I absorbed both of them. Literally becoming EVERYTHING incarnate. Now that usually should not be possible, but such trivial things like paradoxes or reality in general stopped applying to me when I attained that power." Omnis stated.

Once again he was met by blank stares and open mouths, mostly unsure than impressed.

"So you...just absorbed the primordial forces that created you?" Aurora stuttered out. "Sorry, but that is a bit too much to take someone's word for."

Another groan followed. "Never mind that, point is I couldn't die no matter what, until your caretaker Eldaf bound me to your mortality. So then, will you help me recover my power?"

"Why should we, if you intend to destroy this universe for your simple entertainment?" Neymara accusingly said.

A sigh escaped the celestial. "Believe it or not, but I do not seek the destruction of this universe. I give you my word." He addressed Aurora, slowly moving closer to her. "But enough about me, let's talk about you." He said in a seductive way.

"M-Me?!" She worriedly exclaimed as he was an arm's length away from her.

The celestial began speaking with a soothing tone. "One last thing I didn't mention was the release mechanism Eldaf fiddled with. You have the needed authority over the gem's spell to release me from it, and the process comes in three stages. You must give unto me a request, an order and finally - a wish of yours, each of which is unlocked after I reabsorb a certain amount of my power. Right now this shard contains enough for your request, but after you give me your wish I will be completely free from the shard and I will make it come true."

"I...I don't think I..." The sorceress stuttered out, unsure of what to say.

"It's alright Aurora, you don't have to do anything for this guy if you don't want to." Neymara pitched in, earning herself another malicious glance from Omnis.

But he quickly dismissed it and spoke, his voice quietly warm. "I have been with you for a very long time, and you have told me your troubles and how blue they make you feel without even realizing it." He gingerly placed his arm over her shoulders. "I know I'm not what you expected, but come on."

He smiled seductively as he continued. "Share your desires. Let me help you."

He could feel her tense up from his touch and even more from his words. His voice became a little more upbeat as he performed a wave motion, as if moving removing a veil, in front of her. "Imagine this picture. A brand new life. You will have your parents back, along with your friends." He gestured at the duo standing across from them. "You can still live here, attend your college, be the top of the class and the most popular of the students. Or even the Archmage of the college. Have your friends perfectly set up for life along with yourself. Or this war your world has with that Cael Imperium will be stopped, or better yet I would make it so that it never begins in the first place. Or all the things I just said put together."

His words dripped into her mind like the sweetest of honey onto one's tongue. The celestial noticed that even the other two were softening their stances, humoring the thought of what he had just said.

'Oh mortals. You are so easy to hook up. Now for the final blow.' Omnis thought after chuckling mentally, before saying. "Just try to wrap your imagination around it. Anything and everything you can think about will be yours and will be carried out to the most miniscule of details. I've got you covered. And don't you worry about the price. All I require in return for this opportunity is for you to just follow me on a little adventure and survive, while you are under my personal protection. Not much, yes?"

Aurora's eyes began welling up with liquid. Could this be true? Could fate finally be giving her a reward for all the vile things she was forced to live through. Or was this man nothing more than a god only amongst liars, for his words, even if untrue, made her believe. But if he was truly honest... All the things she could do, all the wrongs she could right. It was all too much for her mind to bare at once.

She glanced to the side at her friends, her eyes seeking guidance of what she should do. But they seemed just as conflicted as she was. The possibilities of this were great indeed, but could Omnis be trusted to keep his word should he reclaim his supposed power.

The celestial's smile bent into a smirk. "Well then...do we have a deal~?" He sweetly whispered, lowering his free arm and positioning it in front of Aurora for a handshake.

The sorceress looked down at his hand, various thoughts rampaging within her mind. 

Then her eyes shifted their position over her own hand. Hundreds of voices called out to her, each telling her what to do. Suddenly, another voice came onto the scene. Unlike the others it carried a presence, and what it said felt as if someone had leaned close to her ear and whispered. 'What are you waiting for? You're already damned by the powers of this world. At worst you die regardless, at best you can finally have a proper life. Do it. Make your dreams come true.'

His quiet council silenced all other voices, blowing them away from the plane of her mind. A determined expression formed on her face as she raised her hand, grabbed Omnis', and tightly squeezed it, saying. "Alright. I'll do it!"

His smirk widened into a grin. "Lovely. Then let us g-"

"Hold up!" Neymara exclaimed.

"Ugh, what do you want now?" Omnis asked.

"Do you really think we'll just let you take her with you?" Brim spoke, before addressing Aurora. "If you want to go with him, we'll come with you."

"I appreciate this guys, but you shouldn't get in more trouble than you already have for me." The sorceress protested.

"We are most probably branded as wanted outlaws by now. We can't get into much more trouble than that." Neymara said. "Honestly our best bet is to follow you and hope that what...he...is saying is true and we can fix all of this. Besides it's not like we'd let our best friend wander off towards potential mortal danger with some weirdo."

The elf's words were true. 'Besides it would definitely be better to have someone I know with me.' Aurora thought, before looking at Omnis with pleading eyes.

"Fine, they can come with. I don't really care." The celestial conceded with a sigh.

"Okay...With that out of the way, where are the rest of these shards?" Brim asked.

"I don't know." Omnis casually said, to their surprise.

All of them blinked confusedly. "Uh...how does that work?" Neymara questioned.

"My power is too reduced for me to detect them by myself. But if I were a betting man, I'd say that those elemental doormats that bar the way to the scaly sausage's first kids have them." The celestial explained.

After taking a few moments to decipher what he said, Aurora asked. "The Elemental Guardians of the Twilight Throne? And by "the kids" you mean Onyx and Lumia, Magmius' firstborn? Why do you think that they have the shards?"

"Well, my main reason for assuming so is this mind intruding spell, which claims that said Elemental Guardians have existed ever since the birth of this world, that has been raining down on everything for the past nine hundred and ninety five years." Omnis stated.

The trio couldn't help but scoff at his words.

"What are you talking about? The Guardians HAVE been around here ever since the world's formation. They were the last thing Magmius created before he gave life to his children." Neymara stated, crossing her arms.

"Uh, no. Do you mean to tell me that none of you can feel it?" He asked with disappointment in his tone, turning his head towards Aurora. "Come on, at least you should be able to sense it."

To his immense displeasure the sorceress shook her head.

"My fucking luck..." He muttered under his breath, before stating in a careless tone. "Whatever. The important thing is that I can feel it, and since none of you have a better starting idea, we're going for a visit to those scaly fakes."

"Would you mind toning that down? We aren't just going to replace our beliefs just because you claim that you are god." Brim firmly said.

Omnis stared at him with a neutral expression, before calmly replying. "You've got balls kid. I respect that." Then he playfully waved the topic away. "Fine, I'll be more civil for you guys." He narrowed his eyes and added. "But we are still going to the Twilight Throne."

"We would have to find it first." Neymara spoke. "The knowledge of its location is guarded within the Council's vault."

"Okay, then we just go to that vault and take it." The celestial casually said.

"Are you daft?" The elf protested. "The vault is impenetrable! Not to mention no one but the Councilmen and the Archmages that govern colleges know where the vault itself is, and they are the only ones who can access it!"

"I still fail to see the issue. We just go back to Carosi, break into the college, force that blond bitch to get us to the vault and profit!" Omnis joyfully exclaimed, throwing his arms to the side.

Three disappointed looks now pierced him.

"For someone who promises a lot, you sure don't present yourself as capable enough to deliver on said promises." Brim remarked bluntly.

The celestial simply sighed. "Okay, I promised to tone down the whole fact that I am God, but have a little faith, you three. All we need is to get an audience with the lady, and I will take care of the rest. You'd be amazed at how good I am at persuading people. Actually, I managed to persuade you guys, so it shouldn't be that big of a surprise."

"Now that sounds far more believable." Aurora noted. "But there is still the matter of how we are supposed to get this audience."

"Precisely why I said we should break in. At this point everyone in that city will think you to be enemies of the state and will be looking for you, so any other means of getting to her are in all due essence moot." Omnis reiterated.

Neymara had lowered her gaze, and lightly grabbed her chin in thought, while the others spoke. Shortly after the celestial's last words, she stated. "This is fine and all, but we can further discuss the matter of getting into the city, while we actually get there. The city guard will most definitely be preparing defenses, but since they do not know that we wish to enter, I doubt they will expect us to return. So the faster we get there, the less time they will have to get ready for us."

"Hey! So there is more use for that head of yours, other than supporting those oversized sound detectors." Omnis said with a laugh as he brought his hands to his ears, extending two fingers to mimic Neymara's own ears.

To that the elveness shot him an offended look, while her friends protested against the action.

"Hey!" Brim threateningly let out.

"Omnis!" Aurora scoldingly said at the same time as the man.

In response, the celestial casually said. "I'm not apologizing. Those things look ridiculous. I must have been on a pretty good high when I thought up your species."

"Enough!" Neymara yelled out in frustration. "If we are going to do anything, can we at least get going?!"

"I'm all for that. But do any of you kn ow in which direction Carosi is now?" Omnis calmly asked, receiving three confused hums in return, and then adding. "Just perfect."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the four, they were being watched from afar.

"This can't be right. Are you sure the visors are not malfunctioning?" A man's voice spoke up as five figures clad in body-tight suits, and carrying various types of bizarre technological weapons zoomed onto the quartet with the goggles on the masks that covered their heads.

"No. All of the systems are running properly and the software calibration is on point." Another of the figures, all of which appeared to be men, stated.

"Then this is a spectacular find." A third one remarked. "The readings indicate that the frequency is a hundred percent match." He said as he zoomed onto Aurora's stone arm, more precisely - the gem embedded on the top of her palm.

"The commander was right. Expanding the search closer to a College City most definitely yielded results." The fourth noted. "But that guy that came out of the stone is troubling."

"Look at them, they are just kids." The first spoke up. "If our intel is right, those two are City Guard. And if I'm a betting man, I'd say the stone arm lady is a sorceress. A newbie summoner who happened to find the gem and used it to bind a spirit to it."

"In any case, he needs to be dealt with." The last stated, before bringing his hand up to his ear and speaking into his mask's commlink. "Commander, this is agent DX44674G of Phantom Squad CC-7. Are you receiving our visual?"

_"I am, DX44674G."_ Another voice cracked out from the earpiece, speaking directly to all five of them.

"What are your orders, sir?" The Phantom inquired.

_"We most definitely can not miss an opportunity like this. As of this moment your squad is no longer on a recon mission. This is now an asset extraction. Proceed with caution and get that sorceress back to base, alive. We will have her transported to Palace Lab Prime for study. I'm sure our scientists would love to take a look at the bio structure of her arm and its state, along with that of her mind after direct exposure to the embedded asset."_

"And what about the rest?" 

_"Eliminate them and dispose of the bodies, as to not arouse suspicion about our operations here. Prioritize the summon. We can't have a spirit going berserk in our HQ. You have your orders Phantoms, carry them out. Over and out."_

With a sigh, DX44674G stood up and said. "Well, you heard the man, boys. We're going hunting."

"Sweet." The first of the five let out, as small traces of light washed over their suits, before all of them vanished in thin air.

* * *

Many of the citizens had come out in the late hour to help clear the rubble that was now littering the streets. Everyone was curious as to what had transpired, thus spoke amongst one another in a hushed tone, some bringing up Aurora's name in uncertainty.

Sentef was overlooking the sight from one of the College's windows in one of the building's spires. A grim expression colored his face as he contemplated the events. The power he saw displayed before him could easily rival that of an Archmage. However, what he was wondering was whether this power was the girl's...or if it belonged to something else. The last thing Amargul needed was some demonic entity sabotaging the College Cities, and he would be damned before letting such a thing happen.

"Grand Magus."

His train of thought was broken as he turned around to face Isabella.

"Are the preparations complete, Archmage?" The elf calmly asked.

The woman nodded in response, before saying. "The City Guard will begin instructing the locals about the situation shortly, afterwards they are going to begin fortifying their forces."

"Good." Was all he said, before he returned to gazing out into the night.

She joined him by his side in looking out. After a couple of silent moments, Isabella asked. "If I may, Councilman, is all of this really necessary?"

"Archmage, I presume that you felt the outburst of power, or at the very least you managed to see what it did?" Sentef asked back.

"I did, and I admit I am quite surprised. Aurora showed potential for above average potency in siphoning the arcane, but never in such quantities. However I would have probably unleashed everything I had, should my life, or that of those I cared for be put in danger. Which is exactly why I question this sudden reaction." The Archmage said.

"My nephew saw the young sorceress conversing with an unknown artifact that transformed her arm. Not to mention that if she had nothing to hide she would not have ran." The Magus explained. He then turned to face the woman beside him and added. "It is extremely admirable that you show so much care for the younglings entrusted to your care, even those whom you have personally removed from the position, but this matter is not to be underestimated. We need to get a hold of Miss Kindle and at the very least question her, before containing that artifact."

"I understand. But what makes you think that she, or her friends for that matter, will return to the city?" She asked.

"I suspect that her purpose for coming to the city in the first place has not been finished, especially now that she is being searched for. Desperate people tend to try and finish such matters as soon as possible, which is why I theorize that she will return. And as for her friends, they are either in on her plot, or if not, whatever has taken hold of your student has either turned them to its cause, or killed them." The man replied.

"And considering the power of her spellcraft, are you confident the standing forces of the City Guard will be able to pacify her?" Isabella shot another question, looking directly into the elf's eyes.

"With no offense to the defenders of your city, Archmage, I do have my doubts about their efficiency. But that is not as big of an issue." He turned to look outside once more. "I had asked my son to come visit me here, after his patrol duty was done for the week, so he was already on his way when I contacted him via a magic mirror and explained the situation to him. As we speak, he and his cavalry force are riding towards Carosi to bolster the forces here."

"Would it not be wiser to notify the other Council members of this?"

"The situation is still relatively calm. I am confident that between you, your City Guard, my son's force and myself we will be able to handle the matter, without needing to trouble the Council. Not all of them have as much free time as me, they are trying to govern two worlds and defend them from a vast enemy after all. This needs to stay as contained as possible."

With a quiet breath, Isabella closed her eyes and lowered her head in submission. "Of course, Grand Magus."

* * *

"Fine...we'll sneak in..." Omnis conceded with a groan as they exited the woods into a small clearing.

"Why are you so against doing things in a safe way?" Neymara asked with obvious irritation in her tone.

"Because that makes things go slowly, and I have places to be and stuff to do!" The celestial returned, crossing his arms. "And besides, unless something happens to her I am unkilla-" Before he could finish the sentence a bright flash of light swept from behind him.

The very next moment the celestial's head, still bearing a surprised expression, fell to the ground, causing the rest of his company to gasp in terror.

"Omnis!" Aurora exclaimed, right before something stung her on the side of her neck.

The sorceress barely had time to spot a small dart, before her body collapsed. She was still conscious, but for some reason she was unable to move.

Right in front of Omnis' body materialized a figure, which held what appeared like a sword, but radiated with white flames. A quick look at the person made the three amargulians remember the lessons given about the Cael Imperium, and its various agents. What now stood between all of them was a Phantom - an assassin with great martial prowess and capable of vanishing from sight. Without any warning, another one appeared from out of nowhere, spin kicking Neymara in the side of the head, throwing her down to the ground. Immediately after that, he pulled out a mechanical handle. With a press of a button a cylindrical ceramic blade erected itself from the handle, a small fan on the bottom spun itself and white flame poured out of the blade as well.

Brim hurried to unsheathe his own sword and prepare to meet the Phantom, but he was distracted by a clicking noise to his right. The man jumped forward and rolled in front of Neymara, raising his shield, just in time to block a volley of automated fire as two more Phantoms, carrying automated rifles, manifested as well.

The noise helped the elveness to quickly return to cohesion. Grabbing her bow she rolled to the side of Brim, firing two quick light shots at the enemy's shooters, stopping their fire by causing them to dodge. The second swordsman rushed towards her, but his path was blocked by Brim, who lunged with a forward thrust of his sword. The Phantom easily parried the strike, his plasma blade scorching the metal of his opponent, after which he jumped back to avoid a light arrow.

The second swordsman and the two shooters pushed the man and the elveness further back, as the one who decapitated Omnis muttered under his breath. "Welp. This was easy enough. Now let's secure the objective." After which he stepped forward to pick up the disabled sorceress.

'Huh. I recon such a recovery can land us a few days off duty. Maybe even a promotion to boot.' DX44674G thought to himself as he observed the unfolding situation through the scope of his sniper rifle. 'All that's left now is to take the girl and-' His train of thought was cut off when he noticed that the decapitated body still stood upright, and then took a step forward. 

'What the-?!'

_"Fuse! Behind you!"_ The first Phantom that had revealed itself heard his comrade scream into his ear as he knelt to take Aurora.

"Easy there Dex, what's th-" He was cut off by a tap on his shoulder.

Fuse turned around and barely had time to register the decapitated body of Omnis, before it punched him on the side of the head.

Everyone stopped in place as Fuse's body flew past his comrades at such a speed, it dug a small ditch when it made contact with the ground, his skull caved in from the side. Once getting an eyeful of the gruesome sight, everyone slowly turned their heads back.

"Okay, you lot strike me as the techy type..." Omnis's head spoke, to the horror of the people present, as the headless body picked it up. The black blood coming from his neck and from the head merged together into thick tendrils that latched onto one another and pulled the head back onto the body, the cut wound vanishing without a scar. "...which means you like learning things. So, allow me to educate you on the twelfth law of existence."

"What-" Brim let out with shock.

"-the-" Neymara followed.

"-HELL?!" The Phantoms shouted.

Omnis smirked, chuckling slightly, before saying calmly. "Every negative action taken against me, has an immediate and opposing reaction, that carries a thousand times more force."

In the next moment, a loud gunshot was heard, and a hole was ripped through Omnis' chest, causing him to stumble, the grass withering wherever his blood touched the ground, before he turned around in the direction of the shot and grimaced.

_"Johnes, secure the asset! Ram, Pop terminate the guards! I'll pin the spirit down!"_ Dex hastily shouted into their commlinks, as another shot of his rifle blew through Omnis' shoulder, sending blood to the ground, the patches of grass it hit shriveling to dust. But it, along with the flesh, quickly began regenerating.

Not wasting a moment, the other three Phantoms acted on their orders. Johnes, the swordsman, rushed over to grab Aurora, while Ram and Pop began suppressing Neymara and Brim with a stream of fire, maneuvering to break through their positioning.

"Oh no you don-!" Omnis angrily shouted as he attempted to turn around and protect Aurora, but another sniper shot blew through his left leg, staggering him in one place.

Thus, Johnes was able to grab the limp sorceress and ran off towards the woods. In the meantime, Brim managed to cover himself and the elveness, until they were able to take cover behind a tree, but it was quickly getting shredded by the volley of bullets.

The celestial was about to try and run after Johnes, but, to his immense displeasure, he managed to hear Aurora barely let out. "S-Save...th-em!"

Gritting his teeth he breathed in as a bullet passed right next to his head. With a frighteningly cold expression he turned to face where the bullets were coming from, his eyes locking onto Dex's, causing the Phantom to briefly pause. What shocked the man more, was when Omnis raised one finger, placing it onto his own forehead and then drew a circle around his face.

"Ghh! Damn bastard!" Dex cursed as he aimed and fired a shot directly into the dark figure's face.

Mere moments before the bullet reached its target, Omnis made a spinning motion, swiping the bullet in the middle of its flight, and upon making a full rotation in his place, he threw it back in the same direction it came from with even greater force. Dex barely had time to register what had happened, before the bullet crashed right into his rifle's scope, shattering it completely, continuing into the Phantom's skull through the eye socket, and nailing him to a tree behind him.

Brim and Neymara were driven out of hiding by a flanking Pop. The man raised his shield once again, but the continuing barrage of heavy fire had slowly taken its toll on the blocking tool. Eventually, one section of the shield was whittled down too much and a bullet managed to break through, ripping through Brim's leather and going through the side of his abdomen. The wound caused Brim to scream out in pain as he was brought down to his knees.

"Brim!" Neymara shouted, just as she fired another light arrow, forcing the Phantoms to take momentary cover.

Ram had just stepped out, ready to gun down the elveness, who had dropped her guard to tend to her comrade, with Pop ready to provide additional fire, should one of the targets have dodged. But just as Ram fired his gun, Pop felt a sharp pain in his back, the corner of his eye briefly managing to catch the sight of Omnis kneeing him in the spine.

As his brain received the information of the brain from its broken spine, a short scream left the man, as the force of the hit sent him flying and his body soaked all of the bullets from Ram's volley, before slamming face first into a bloody stain onto a tree.

"POP!" Ram managed to shout out, right before Omnis appeared inches from his face.

The man tried to fire, but the celestial grabbed the front of his gun and crushed it in his hand. Immediately after he gripped the Phantom by the throat and then punched him in the gut, the force of the hit sending the body flying back, while the head, with some of the spine still attach to it, remained in Omnis' hand, the eyes still staring with shock at him through his mask's visor. The celestial casually dropped the head, before turning around to tell Neymara. 

"Put pressure on the wound and try to slow the bleeding."

Before she could utter a word, the celestial lightly lowered himself and bolted after the last Phantom that had Aurora, leaving a trench in his wake. The awe of the sight quickly dissipated due to Brim's grunts of pain, snapping Neymara out and she did as instructed, pushing down onto the wound in order to stop the bleeding as much as possible.

_"Agent J085!"_ Johnes' commlink ignited with the voice of his superior. _"The squad had been terminated, evac immediately!"_

The news made the Phantom shudder, but he managed to get a hold of himself and asked. "What about the asset, commander?"

_"Secure at all costs! That takes priority! Drop the dead weight. We can go without her."_

Understanding the order, Johnes reached for the handle of his plasma blade, extending it with a single motion. Aurora's eyes widened in shock as the plasma began engulfing the blade.

"Sorry kid." The man uttered as he swung his hand back in a stabbing motion, the sorceress instinctively closing her eyes.

But a blow never came, instead the feeling of the man running ceased in a violently sudden manner. Opening her eyes she saw Omnis holding onto the blade with one hand, the white flame searing away his flesh and blood, but it kept re-growing just as fast. The celestial's dark gaze peered deep into the man, who was incapable of moving his arm, feeling a cold sweat breaking over his skin.

"Drop her." Omnis said with an even voice, bearing a bemused expression.

With a moment of hesitation, the Phantom unintentionally complied, Aurora hitting the ground with a light thump. In the next moment, the celestial's free hand grabbed the Phantom by the neck and he pinned him to the ground, pulling the blade out of his grasp. Giving the weapon a fairly short bemused look as the flames slightly poured off from it, Omnis turned his attention back to the man beneath him.

"Alright friend, I don't know who you used to serve, but now you are my property, am I clear?" He spoke.

The conflicting question, along with the mixture of adrenaline and fear, that surged through him briefly confused Johnes, leaving him speechless.

"Am I clear you worthless shitstain?!" Omnis yelled at him.

"YES! YES YOU ARE!" The man cried back.

"Good." The celestial uttered as he moved the blade above Johnes, a little bit of plasma falling on the ground next to him. "Now, call me 'Master'."

"W-What?" The man managed to mumble.

"Did I bloody stutter?!" Omnis stated, tightening his hold on his captive's throat.

"N-No! N-No you d-d-didn't-M-Master!" Johnes chocked out.

"Splendid." The celestial said, smiling. Suddenly his face went grim. "Your services are no longer required." And proceeded to plunge the blade through the man's face, leaving him time for only a brief shriek of pain, before he went limp, and the plasma began melting his head.

* * *

A dark skinned man watched in horror as the massive screen in front of him fizzled out into static. Gritting his teeth and clenching his robotic arm he slammed it down, leaving a deformed dent into the control panel before him, as several other figures stepped away from him. After a couple of deep breaths, he coldly said to someone behind him. "Get me in touch with our link."

* * *

Aurora watched with obvious horror as Omnis squatted down next to her.

"Okay, let's get you back up." As he said that, the celestial placed his hand over the gem on the sorceress' stone arm, a small fiery wave washed over her.

In the very next instant, the woman felt she was able to move freely once again.

"W-What did you just do?" She fearfully asked.

"Just released a small surge of power from the container, like when you asked for help to escape the city, or when you burned away your teacher's hair. By now your body is somewhat acclimated to it, so it just burned away the foreign substance of the drug you got hit with." He explained, after which he picked her up in his arms. "I'd love to tell you more, but I feel that you will annoy me a lot if we don't hurry."

"Hurry to d-WHOA!" Aurora barely let out as Omnis dashed back towards her friends.

Neymara had managed to somewhat stabilize Brim's condition, but he was feeling incredibly dizzy and on the brink of losing consciousness. In a couple of minutes Omnis returned, with Aurora on hand.

"Brim!" The sorceress exclaimed, getting off and instinctively kneeling down to close the wound with her magic, but before she did anything, Omnis grabbed her by the hand. "Let go! I have to heal him!" She shouted in protest.

Ignoring her outburst, the celestial addressed the elveness. "Is there an exit wound on his back?"

"What? Um...I, I don't know." She stuttered out.

Sighing, the celestial let go of Aurora and lifted Brim's body in order to inspect it, producing several pain filled grunts from the man.

Upon looking him over, Omnis concluded. "Ah, damn. The bullet is still inside of him."

"Well what should we do?!" Both women insisted.

With a bemused expression, Omnis turned to Aurora. "You can conjure various items. Just make a metal pincer and heat it up."

Taking a moment to process his words, the sorceress nodded and extended her palm, a gray circle forming above it. Closing her eyes, she forced the shape of a small metallic pincer to erect from the circle. Taking it in his free hand, Omnis held it for Aurora to heat it up. The sorceress produced a small flame above one of her fingers, the celestial sticking the tips of the pincers in it for a little while, before bringing over Brim's wound.

"Okay boy, I'm going to warn you, this is going to be very painful." The celestial calmly said. "But if it makes you feel any better, I will find it absolutely hilarious."

"How is that supposed to make me feel b-AAAAAAA-!" Brim barely uttered, before screaming out in agony when Omnis shoved the hot metal in his wound.

"Brim!" Aurora let out.

"Be careful!" Neymara added.

Omnis, however, seemed to pay them no heed, as he moved the pincers within the man, searching for the bullet, while his patient continued to scream. After a little while, a satisfactory smile covered the celestial's face as he felt metal clinging against metal with his hand. Clenching the pincers he suddenly pulled, prompting a final scream from Brim, grinning at the sight of the bullet clutched in the pincers.

"There you are." He chuckled, before dropping Brim back to the ground and addressing Aurora. "He's all yours."

Not waiting a moment too much, the sorceress focused her hands over the wound, a green light emanating from them, slowly bringing the tissues of flesh together and merging them, eventually reducing Brim's screams to grunts and finally to heavy breaths as the wound fully closed.

Due to her shifted focus, the pincers faded into a small cloud of smoke, the bullet they clutched falling to the ground.

"Congratulations boy! You took it like a champ and didn't bitch all the way through. I'm proud of you." Omnis reassuringly said as he bent over the man's face, but received no immediate reply, other than the slightly disapproving looks of the ladies.

"The wound is closed, but he will probably be dizzy for a little while, since he lost a bit too much blood." The celestial added, after which he picked the man up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Alrighty, since I'm a nice guy I'll carry him until we reach the city. You gals be dears and carry his stuff." After saying that, he turned around and continued marching back to Carosi.

Aurora and Neymara looked at his distancing form for a few more moments of being awestruck. Once the sensation passed, one took up Brim's shield, and the other his sword, and both followed after.

* * *

As dawn rose and the sun washed over the clearing, reflecting off of the visor of Ram's head. Suddenly a clawed scaly foot stomped right next to it, before someone jumped down next to it as well. The head was picked up by a gray skinned elf with dark-violet crimson hair and light purple eyes. Next to him stood a massive raptor creature, which bore a saddle and various equipment suiting it for riding and several bags. The creature hissed as the elf examined the head, narrowing his eyes disapprovingly while doing so.

A couple dozen more elves, either milky white or smoky gray, and humans riding similar raptors prowled over the field, examining the remains of the carnage that had ensued upon it.

"Lord Mistweaver!"

The elf examining the head turned to one of his subordinates, who pointed in the direction of Carosi. Following their finger, Mistweaver's eyes slightly widened as he saw smoke rising in the distance. Putting the head into one of the bag strapped to his raptor, the elf then mounted it and shouted.

"Riders! Follow me and double your efforts!" After which he spurred his raptor, charging in the direction of the College City, followed by the rest of his riders.

  
  


**A memory adrift the sands of time:**

“Alright miss Kindle. I’d like to see what your magical output is.” Said Jerbalt, sporting a magnificent golden brown mane on his head.

“Are...you sure?” A young Aurora cautiously asked, uncertain of whether that was a good idea.

“Of course I am, girl.” He said, flashing her a faint smile, after which he erected a protective ward in front of himself, and added. “Now give me your best shot.”

“Well...okay then.” Aurora said as she brought her right hand forward and concentrated, a small orb of fire forming in front of it.

‘She can form a spiritual element so stably at such a young age, this one shows a lot of prom-’ Jerbalt’s train of thought was cut off, when the flame from the girl’s hand exploded, easily breaking through his ward and leaving him a smooth singed mess on the floor of the college.

The sheer force expelled by the torrent sent the young girl’s small form flying through the window and through the sky of the city as she screamed for help.

* * *

A small brown haired boy was sneaking through the streets of Carosi, his aim a produce stand, with fresh apples ready for the taking, just standing there. Feeling his stomach grumble, he took a step forward. Suddenly his attention turned to the sky as he could hear screaming. His eyes widened when he saw someone, followed by a massive torrent of flame, flying right towards him.

Before the boy could react, the person rammed into them, the torrent carrying both of the now screaming children through the city, setting a few stands on fire.

* * *

Sighing deeply, a young elven girl looked at herself in her room’s mirror, dressed in her City Guard cadet uniform, holding onto her magical bow, which seemed a little big for her stature.

“Alright Neymara. This is it. You’ve been accepted into the cadet corps of the city guard.” The elven girl told herself as she looked to the side, towards a portrait of her family, most of them dressed in decorated military uniforms.

“The first step to fulfilling your family’s expectations.” She added, before turning towards the mirror and smiling. “The first step to meeting Lord Mistweaver~!”

Her ear slightly twitched, causing her to furrow her brows as she could swear she could hear screaming. Turning her head to the side she barely had time to react, before two people crashed through her window and right into her, tumbling onto the floor, before coming to a halt.

All three slowly rose, feeling incredibly sore, but were shocked to suddenly see that the room was slowly growing ablaze.

“SWEET MAGMIUS!” All of them shouted as they all began putting the fires out.

After several minutes the crisis was averted, and the elveness was scolding the two humans, who had currently knelt before her in poses of apology.

“What the hell was this?! Why would you do anything so stupid?!” She yelled.

“We’re sorry.” Both quietly said.

“Uugh! Oh Magmius, look at all this mess! I’m definitely going to get evicted from here! Father is going to be furious with me!” Neymara uttered on the brink of tears, grabbing her head with both of her hands.

“P-Please don’t worry. I will pay for all of the damages.” Aurora meekly said.

“You better, I didn’t have anything to do with this. I just got swept from the street.” The boy added.

“Alright!” Neymara stated, turning to both of them, with the best composed expression she could manage. “What are your names?”

“I’m Aurora Kindle.” The girl introduced herself.

“I’m Brim.” The boy stated.

“Okay, Aurora and Brim. I am Neymara, and both of you are going to help me have this entire mess sorted out. Do you understand?” The elveness firmly said.

“Yes ma’am!” Both of them said in unison.

* * *

Meanwhile, within the concealed gem on Aurora’s hand, a very sweaty Omnis had pinned his back against one of the fiery orange crystalline walls of his prison, clutching it with one hand, and clutching his heart with the other, a pale frightened expression colored his face as he hyperventilated.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the launching point of my practice in writing proper. There is a lot of wrong here in terms of formatting, which I will most likely come back to remedy in the future. As of right now my intention is to have this story be in the writing/formatting style I cultivated as a bar from which to move away in time.
> 
> Past that, while I am putting my focus on examples of good and proper formatting, I would like to request for you, dear reader, to share what did you like and or dislike with the story, pacing, introductions and so forth. Constructive criticism and pointers on how to improve are a treasure few can appreciate. I lay bear my work, if you did not enjoy it, please shred it so that it can become better.


End file.
